


3+1=Family

by meils121



Category: Leverage
Genre: Domestic Fluff, Implied/Referenced Domestic Violence, Multi, accidental pre-teen acquisition
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-22
Updated: 2017-12-22
Packaged: 2019-02-18 14:29:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,006
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13102119
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/meils121/pseuds/meils121
Summary: Eliot, Hardison, and Parker accidentally acquire a pre-teen family member.  But it's okay, because she still has to do her math homework.





	3+1=Family

**Author's Note:**

  * For [poppetawoppet](https://archiveofourown.org/users/poppetawoppet/gifts).



            The brew pub is generally popular with the twenty-something crowd, which is why Eliot’s a bit surprised to see a kid who can’t be more than ten or eleven hanging out there one afternoon.  The girl doesn’t seem to be with anyone else.  She just sits at one of the corner booths in the back and pours over her homework and only orders a water.  

            Eliot can’t help but notice that she’s got a black eye.  

            She starts showing up two or three times a week.  She gets there right after school lets out and doesn’t leave until right before the dinner time rush.  Amy quirks an eyebrow at Eliot, silently asking if he’s okay with this kid camping out at the brew pub, and Eliot nods.  He knows a kid who needs a safe place when he sees one.  

            He knows better than to walk up and start asking questions.  He does, however, make an occasional plate of nachos or a sandwich and have Amy give it to the girl, telling her there was a mixup in orders and it will get thrown out if she doesn’t need it.  The girl always hesitates, but she always ends up eating whatever they give her.  She’s too skinny for her age, her clothes hanging off her tiny frame.  She needs the food.

            Things take a sudden turn about three weeks after the girl first starts showing up.  She appears around lunchtime on a Tuesday, her backpack heavy on her back and carrying a suitcase.  And Eliot can spot a runaway from a mile away.

            The girl takes her usual booth in the back.  She looks nervous, like someone’s going to show up any minute.  That’s concerning.  

            “Parker.”  Eliot beckons the thief over.  “What do you think?”

            Parker eyes the girl.  “She’s running away.”  Parker pauses.  “Fading black eye.  She’s holding her arm like it’s hurt.  Bad.”

            Hardison overhears.  “What is she doing here?  Isn’t there school now?”

            “She’s running away.”  Parker says.

            Eliot makes a sandwich and hands it to Hardison.  “Make sure she eats.”  He says.  

            The door opens a few minutes later.  Eliot turns to welcome the newcomer, but the words die on his lips.  The man looks furious, his face pinched and cold.  Eliot frowns.  Trouble.

            “Parker-”

            “Trouble.”  Parker agrees.  

            The man looks around, his eyes finally landing on the girl.  “Beth, you stupid little -”

            The girl - Beth - shrinks into the booth, making herself as small as possible.  It’s all Eliot needs.

            “Get out.”  He says to the man.  Calmly, but he does that thing with his eyes that everyone says is so scary.  “You aren’t welcome here.”

            “That’s my stepdaughter.”  The man says, and now that Eliot’s so close he can smell the alcohol on his breath.  “Get out of my way.”

            Hardison comes to stand next to Eliot.  “You the one who gave her those bruises?”  He asks.  

            The man starts to sense that he’s walked into the wrong place to start a fight.  “Whatever.  Just tell her she’s not welcome home.  I’m sick of dealing with her.”

            The door slams shut behind him, and Eliot’s glad that they avoided a fight.  But then he turns around and sees Beth curled up and leaning into an uncertain Parker and realizes they’ve got bigger problems on their hands.

            They take a seat on the opposite side of the table, Eliot pressed against the wall and Hardison on the outside.  Beth shrinks back.  “I didn’t meant to cause trouble.”  She says quietly.  “I can go.”

            “You have somewhere?”

            “No.”  Beth says with perfect honesty.  “I had to leave.  My mama don’t care that he hits me.”

            Parker makes a sympathetic noise.  “Been there.”  She says.  

            Beth looks at her.  “You have?”

            “Yeah.”  Parker says, but she doesn’t volunteer any more information.  And really, Parker’s just about bared her soul telling the girl that much.  She never talks about her childhood.  Ever.

            “Why’d you come here?”  Hardison asks.

            Beth looks up.  “It felt safe.”  She says.  “He looks like those guys in the movies who beat up the bad guys.”

            Parker giggles.  “You do!”  She says.  She leans in like she’s about to tell Beth a secret - and, knowing Parker, she probably is.  “He does beat up bad guys, you know.”  

            “For real?”  Beth looks at him skeptically.  “I thought you made hamburgers.”

            “I do both.”  Eliot says, and he’s not really sure why he’s telling this kid details about his life that she really doesn’t need to know.  

            “Just like Hardison makes beer _and_ hacks computers.”  Parker says.  “And I - what do I do?”

            “You name everything.”  Hardison reminds her.

            “Right.  So just like I name everything here _and_ steal things.”

            Beth has a look on her face that suggests she’s thinking that they’re all crazy.  “Okay.”  She says slowly.  “That’s - cool, I guess.  Whatever.”  And maybe Eliot underestimated the pre-teen ability of dismissing absolutely anything with a simple ‘whatever’.  

            Parker turns to Eliot.  “You know we have the extra room in the back, right?”  She asks, like offering a room to a runaway kid is a totally normal thing to do.  And Eliot’s about to say no, say that Beth needs to go to a shelter or a foster home or something, but he sees the look in Parker’s eyes, the one that says she’s not taking no for an answer.  And, well, Eliot’s grown fond of the girl.  

            “You still have to go to school.”  He says, and Beth’s face just lights up like he told her it was Christmas.  “But yeah, there’s a spare room in the back that’s yours.”

            Beth throws her arms around Parker and squeals.  “You guys are the weirdest, bestest people ever!”  She proclaims.  

            Two weeks later, when Nate and Sophie come to visit, they’re a bit taken aback to find Hardison explaining math homework to a twelve-year-old who looks perfectly at home in the brew pub.  But really, it just makes sense.  Beth needed a home.  And, well, the three of them had one to offer.  

 


End file.
